Nostalgia. It's a hell of.a drug. I've said it before.
Randy gets it, and is the first person I've seen so succinctly sum up what I feel whenever I put on a CD or rip a new MiniDisc. It just feels good. And as a collector, the dopamine rush of walking into a thrift store or our local Hard-Off, not knowing what I may find lurking on those shelves, or when a new-to-me piece of gear that I probably overpaid for arrives in the mail is exactly as he points out.
I grew up with vinyl as a teenager, spent my 20s and 30s with the arrival and peak market of CDs (I remember to this day the smell when you walked into Tower Records), and ended my 30s and spent my 40s with MiniDiscs. Even though the whole cancer thing occurred when I was deep into MD (I remember having my Sony MZ-S1 at the hospital, listening to whoever was on my radar at the time) I still have so many fond memories associated with the format.
I look at my music collection and think, "That's me. That's my vibration." And even though my tastes have expanded over the years, every one of those recordings is a part of who I am.
And since everything I buy is used from individuals, it gives a stiff middle finger to the orange felon's tariff madness.
I think I stopped buying CDs since my first subscription to an Internet provider, back in the time Napster was on the trend. It changed my way to access, collect (and keep or not) any music I liked. Napster or else, the habit remained up until now, with gigabytes of music stored on two external drives (plus some boxes of vinyls probably still taking dust in the attic of the ex I broke with quite a long time ago…)
Anyway, beyond the explanation he makes of why CDs (or vinyls, MDs…) are so en vogue – which are all relevant and smartly underpinned – I believe that he spots on what inconsciously drives someone to collect whatever kind of object he does.
Listening through his video I couldn't help but looking up to my own collections (alarm-clocks, mostly 1920's to 40's, and 19th inkwels), and to wonder what it says about me, about who I am.
I hope thos who will survive me will think a bit ahead of just « He was living in the past » 🙂
Thank you for sharing this video.
Raising my glass of Riesling to you and your two loved ones,
Laurent
I've already directed that when I go to the great beyond, Ben should go through my collection of CDs, keep what he wants, and give the rest (as well as all my vinyl and any equipment he doesn't want—which, honestly, will undoubtedly be all of it) to our "niece," the 20-something daughter of one of his friends who's heavy into music.